Daily Bible CEV November 01 Scroll

Church Officials

1 Timothy 3 It is true that anyone who desires to be a church official wants to be something worthwhile. ²That's why officials must have a good reputation and be faithful in marriage. They must be self-controlled, sensible, well-behaved, friendly to strangers, and able to teach. ³They must not be heavy drinkers or troublemakers. Instead, they must be kind and gentle and not love money.

⁴Church officials must be in control of their own families, and they must see that their children are obedient and always respectful. ⁵If they don't know how to control their own families, how can they look after God's people?

⁶They must not be new followers of the Lord. If they are, they might become proud and be doomed along with the devil. ⁷Finally, they must be well-respected by people who are not followers. Then they won't be trapped and disgraced by the devil.

Church Officers

⁸Church officers should be serious. They must not be liars, heavy drinkers, or greedy for money. ⁹And they must have a clear conscience and hold firmly to what God has shown us about our faith. ¹⁰They must first prove themselves. Then if no one has anything against them, they can serve as officers.

¹¹Women must also be serious. They must not gossip or be heavy drinkers, and they must be faithful in everything they do.

¹²Church officers must be faithful in marriage. They must be in full control of their children and everyone else in their home. ¹³Those who serve well as officers will earn a good reputation and will be highly respected for their faith in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Our Religion

¹⁴I hope to visit you soon. But I am writing these instructions, ¹⁵so that if I am delayed, you will know how everyone who belongs to God's family ought to behave. After all, the church of the living God is the strong foundation of truth.

¹⁶Here is the great mystery of our religion:

Christ came as a human.

The Spirit proved that he pleased God,

and he was seen by angels.

Christ was preached to the nations.

People in this world put their faith in him,

and he was taken up to glory.

The Assyrians Surround Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18.13-27; 2 Chronicles 32.1-19)

Isaiah 36 Hezekiah had been king of Judah for fourteen years when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city ²except Jerusalem. The Assyrian king ordered his army commander to leave the city of Lachish and to take a large army to Jerusalem.

The commander went there and stood on the road near the cloth makers' shops along the canal from the upper pool. ³Three of the king's highest officials came out of Jerusalem to meet him. One of them was Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.

⁴The Assyrian commander told them:

I have a message for Hezekiah from the great king of Assyria. Ask Hezekiah why he feels so sure of himself. ⁵Does he think he can plan and win a war with nothing but words? Who is going to help him, now that he has turned against the king of Assyria? ⁶Is he depending on Egypt and its king? That's the same as leaning on a broken stick, and it will go right through his hand.

⁷Is Hezekiah now depending on the LORD, your God? Didn't Hezekiah tear down all except one of the LORD's altars and places of worship? Didn't he tell the people of Jerusalem and Judah to worship at that one place?

⁸The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people! He will give you two thousand horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. ⁹How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? ¹⁰Don't forget that it was the LORD who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation!

¹¹Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, "Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew."

¹²The Assyrian army commander answered, "My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you!"

¹³Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted out in Hebrew:

Listen to what the great king of Assyria says! ¹⁴Don't be fooled by Hezekiah. He can't save you. ¹⁵Don't trust him when he tells you that the LORD will protect you from the king of Assyria. ¹⁶Stop listening to Hezekiah. Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns ¹⁷for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards and raise your own grain.

¹⁸Hezekiah claims the LORD will save you. But don't be fooled by him. Were any other gods able to defend their land against the king of Assyria? ¹⁹What happened to the gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim? Were the gods of Samaria able to protect their land against the Assyrian forces? ²⁰None of these gods kept their people safe from the king of Assyria. Do you think the LORD, your God, can do any better?

^21-22Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah had been warned by King Hezekiah not to answer the Assyrian commander. So they tore their clothes in sorrow and reported to Hezekiah everything the commander had said.

Hezekiah Asks Isaiah for Advice
(2 Kings 19.1-13)

Isaiah 37 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the LORD. ²He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell me:

³Isaiah, these are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born. ⁴Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the LORD heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray.

⁵When these leaders came to me, ⁶I told them that the LORD had this message for Hezekiah:

I am the LORD. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. ⁷I will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death.

⁸Meanwhile the commander of the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the town of Lachish and was now attacking Libnah. So he went there.

⁹About this same time, the king of Assyria learned that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was on his way to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some messengers with this note for Hezekiah:

¹⁰Don't trust your God or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me. ¹¹You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? ¹²The Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and everyone from Eden who lived in Telassar. What good did their gods do them? ¹³The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah have all disappeared.

Hezekiah Prays
(2 Kings 19.14-19)

¹⁴After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the LORD to see. ¹⁵Then he prayed:

¹⁶LORD God All-Powerful of Israel, your throne is above the winged creatures. You created the heavens and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of this world. ¹⁷Just look and see how Sennacherib has insulted you, the living God.

¹⁸It is true, our LORD, that Assyrian kings have turned nations into deserts. ¹⁹They destroyed the idols of wood and stone that the people of those nations had made and worshiped. ²⁰But you are our LORD and our God! We ask you to keep us safe from the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth will know that you are the only LORD.

Isaiah Gives the LORD's Answer to Hezekiah
(2 Kings 19.20-34)

^21-22I went to Hezekiah and told him that the LORD God of Israel had said:

Hezekiah, you prayed to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. Now this is what I say to that king:

The people of Jerusalem hate and make fun of you;

they laugh behind your back.

²³Sennacherib, you cursed, shouted,

and sneered at me, the holy God of Israel.

²⁴You let your officials insult me, the Lord.

And here is what you have said about yourself,

"I led my chariots to the highest heights

of Lebanon's mountains.

I went deep into its forest, cutting down

the best cedar and cypress trees.

²⁵I dried up every stream in the land of Egypt,

and I drank water from wells I had dug."

²⁶Sennacherib, now listen to me, the LORD.

I planned all of this long ago.

And you don't even know

that I alone am the one who decided

that you would do these things.

I let you make ruins of fortified cities.

²⁷Their people became weak, terribly confused.

They were like wild flowers

or like tender young grass growing on a flat roof

or like a field of grain before it matures.

²⁸I know all about you, even how fiercely angry

you are with me.

²⁹I have seen your pride and the tremendous hatred

you have for me.

Now I will put a hook in your nose,

a bit in your mouth,

then I will send you back to where you came from.

³⁰Hezekiah, I will tell you what's going to happen. This year you will eat crops that grow on their own, and the next year you will eat whatever springs up where those crops grew. But the third year, you will plant grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest. ³¹Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. ³²I, the LORD All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live in Jerusalem will survive.

³³I promise that the king of Assyria won't get into Jerusalem, or shoot an arrow into the city, or even surround it and prepare to attack. ³⁴As surely as I am the LORD, he will return by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem. ³⁵I will protect it for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.

The Death of King Sennacherib
(2 Kings 19.35-37)

³⁶The LORD sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed one hundred eighty-five thousand of them all in one night. The next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. ³⁷After this, King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. ³⁸One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king.

Psalm 119

⁹⁷I deeply love your Law! I think about it all day.

⁹⁸Your laws never leave my mind,

and they make me much wiser than my enemies.

⁹⁹Thinking about your teachings

gives me better understanding than my teachers,

¹⁰⁰and obeying your laws makes me wiser

than those who have lived a long time.

¹⁰¹I obey your word

instead of following a way that leads to trouble.

¹⁰²You have been my teacher,

and I won't reject your instructions.

¹⁰³Your teachings are sweeter than honey.

¹⁰⁴

They give me understanding and make me hate all lies.

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp that gives light wherever I walk.

¹⁰⁶Your laws are fair,

and I have given my word to respect them all.

¹⁰⁷I am in terrible pain! Save me, LORD,

as you said you would.

¹⁰⁸Accept my offerings of praise and teach me your laws.

¹⁰⁹I never forget your teachings,

although my life is always in danger.

¹¹⁰Some merciless people are trying to trap me,

but I never turn my back on your teachings.

¹¹¹They will always be my most prized possession

and my source of joy.

¹¹²I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever,

no matter what.

¹¹³I hate anyone whose loyalty is divided,

but I love your Law.

¹¹⁴You are my place of safety and my shield.

Your word is my only hope.

¹¹⁵All of you worthless people, get away from me!

I am determined to obey the commands of my God.

¹¹⁶Be true to your word, LORD. Keep me alive and strong;

don't let me be ashamed because of my hope.

¹¹⁷Keep me safe and secure,

so that I will always respect your laws.

¹¹⁸You reject all deceitful liars

because they refuse your teachings.

¹¹⁹As far as you are concerned,

all evil people are garbage,

and so I follow your rules.

¹²⁰I tremble all over when I think of you

and the way you judge.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.